19 - 27 Nov Colombo to Tangalla

Colombo
Arrived into the Sri Lankan Capitol at 6 am and jumped in a cab for the hour long ride to the centre of town.
Immediately the difference in people was evident, gentle, hassle free and simply happy to chat about the weather.

Again our talent for turning up at large events/ religious festivals was as strong as ever. This time our hotel was slap bang in the middle of the area closed off for the presidential re election celebrations!
Stayed in the Galle Face hotel- beautiful old colonial hotel decked out as you would imagine a luxury hotel to be in 1910. Unfortunately dinner suit had to be substituted for shorts and a shirt but we felt suitably regal for a couple of nights.

Spent the next day organising our country tour. This is the best way to see things in a short time so we had to suck up the cost and get a new driver - Mr Raja.

Sun 21st
Sigriya - towards the centre of the island. Buddhist temple built on top of a volcanic plug. A bout of stomach dodginess meant Sally forgoing the 1500 step ascent to the world heritage sight to vomit in the carpark. Being the good husband I am I left her with Drives and beasted myself up to the top for some incredible views of the surrounding countryside.

22nd
Polonnaruwa - ancient ruined city built around 1000 years old famous for it's giant buddhas carved out of the rock face

Afternoon- safari in Kaudulla. Jeep ride into the bush to see elephants, 3 herds with about 70 nellys in total.

23rd drive to Kandy
Dambulla - ancient city in the centre of the island. This time famous for it's rock temples with 100 s of carvings and paintings of the Buddha.
Matale - temple - lots of strange depictions of hell and demons eating people. Nice
Spice gardens - all the stuff you have in your cupboard in real life.
British Cemetery Kandy - servicemen and women killed during the bombing by the Japanese of Trini and Colombo. Rather moving as the head gardener insisted he took me around, knew every single person buried there and was extremely proud of his immaculate gardens.

Cultural dancing - Kandy. Demo of the 8 or so Sri Lankan dances, lots of drums, two participants who looked like they should be claiming pensions not dragging down the ladies squad average and some top fire walking.

Temple of the sacred tooth relic. Supposedly one of the Buddha's teeth was stolen from his funeral pyre and smuggled over to SL. This is now the symbol of the Sinhalese National identity and of major importance to the Buddhist religion. As with most religious places there was a lot of pushing, a lot of near stampeding and a lot of devout Buddhist Monks taking 'donations' for a blessing.

24th Kitulgalla
Early rise for trip from Kandy to the river side town of Kitulgalla. Stayed at Rafters Retreat which as you may have sussed is a place for White water rafting. River was the location for the filming of 'bridge over the river Kwai'. Rapids weren't massive but very good fun never the less. Our guide also decided to demonstrate how to smash your hip into a boulder by falling out at the last little ripple.
Room was a wooden cabana overlooking the river. No Walls on 2 sides just jungle and the river, great view from the toilet.

25th Ella
Drive up to the central highlands to Ella. Stopped at a tea estate for a quick cup of the local Craig estate brew.

Dropped off at a little town to catch the train for the rest of the journey. Drives assured us it was worth it and he wasn't kidding. This has to be amongst the most beautiful train rides in the world. A little engine and 5 carriages takes you up through the mountains, weaving it's way first through paddy fields then tea plantations in some of the most incredible scenery I have ever seen. A must do journey if you ever come to SL.

Got to a very cloudy Ella around 4 pm. Couldn't really see what the point of the stop was until the mist cleared. As it lifted you could see the mountains open up before you and part themselves down to the sea. Another incredible view,the 8 gb memory card started to earn it's keep.

26 th Ella - Yala
Up at 0520 to catch the sun rise which was well worth it.
Drive to Tissa where we would stay for our safari into Yala national park. Worryingly Raja stopped at the start of the drive to say a prayer to shiva at a roadside temple, he was a catholic so I knew something was up! Unfortunately the week before a Brit had been killed on the same piece of road and he was damn sure we were going to be safe in his hands.

Yala is a massive national park on the south east coast which is famed for it's leopards. We left in our trusty landie at 2 and with our luck we weren't expecting much big cat action. A good omen from the off was a civet cat that walked straight in front of the car and they hadn't seen one of them for 3 months. Luckily the animals were out in force and we saw plenty of crocs, water buffalo, wild boar, honey bee eaters, elephants and snakes. Apparently our luck was in that day as we were fortunate enough to see an unheard of, 3 leopards. 2 walked within a couple of m's of our wagon (excellently spotted by Sally) and 1 was posing rather splendidly on the top of a rock! Absolutely fantastic day and just hope the photos come out.

27 th Yala - Tangalla

Early start to get us the 100 or so km's to the south coast and the end of the mini tour where we would take up our own movements. Me Raja was a star an a genuine top bloke.
Tangalla- beautiful empty beach with a couple of beach huts and a bar. Perfect....

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15 - 19 Nov

Apologies for the complete lack of updates but tinterweb access has been a bit tricky over the last week or so. I'm also on the IPhone so typing is a bit problematic with my fat fingers but here is a quick run down of recent activity:

15 Nov D + 42 (Sally says 43 but i like the way Churchill a d Eisenhower numbered things)

Bogmalo Beach Goa - got a taxi from Panji to this place at the advice of the hostel owner. Great option, beautiful quiet beach with no tourists in sight and just round the corner from the airport. Stayed at a lovely little guest house called Jouets and happily whiled away a couple of days KBR ing ( kicking back and relaxing) before our early morning flight to Mumbai/Bombay.

17 Nov Bombay
Both loved Bombay. Much more civilised than Delhi and has a real buzz to the place. Beautiful colonial architecture in the old port area, some great restaurants and most definitely worth a visit.
Of note was our usual trick of turning up somewhere and there being a religious festival on and This meant no alcohol was getting served in the city. After much traipsing around we found a swanky bar and sweet talked the bouncer who sorted us out with some additional antimalarials ie some G &T.

Left Mumbai at silly o'clock the morning of the 19th.

Some brief thoughts about India:
People - just endless numbers of people. Everywhere we went, be it the middle of a desert, top of a mountain or stuck in the jungle there are people, and lots of them. Each area has a distinct flavour but in general the Northerners were quite hard and basic in their approach to life where as the southern Indians seemed a bit happier with their lot.
North - A stroppy French Waiter on a bad day who feels he needs to rip you off for the meal you just ate, which was also the incorrect order and was 2 hours late
Southern Indians - Happily tipsy Canadian who you ask for directions but he dosent know but with good intensions makes it up then smiles and asks for a couple of quid.

As soon as India motivates itself, the new generations move on from the Caste system and money is a bit more evenly distributed the world is in for a shock. Nevermind the uk cutting it's carbon emissions with a few windmills as soon as the cost of a family car comes down to affordable level we are in big trouble.

A brilliant, beautiful, mind blowing attack on the senses is about the best way to sum it up - get your visa and get over there!

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Colombo

Hampi

Recent Photos

Fishing boats double parked in Udapi Harbour

Just out side Palolem where we.....

.. ..bumped into a couple of randoms

Gordon loves this place



Eat your heart out The Hoff



Bit of Beach cricket, Palolem

Born to be wild

Local assistance required to get the Bullet going again

Lotus Mahal Hampi



Hampi



Lakshmi the Temple Elephant blessing Sal

Very dangerous

Huge rainfall turned the river red



 Goan Church




Panjim



D 38 - 41 Hampi-Goa

D 38 - 39 Goa to Hampi


0745 departure for the 7 hour train to Hampi. Definitely going up in the world as we treated ourselves to AC 3 class, that's 3 beds either side then another 2 on the side of the carriage. Pleasant enough journey and some spectacular views as the train climbs from the beaches of Goa through the forests and tea plantations and up to the plateau of the Karnataka highlands.


As an aside, Indian Trains and the Indian Train network. You thought buying your ticket from Cardiff to London via reading was complicated! Restrictions, disclaimers, cancellation options, booking options, classes, ways to bribe train conductors, ways to change ticket allocations, Reservation After Cancellation, waiting lists, booking fees, cancellation refunds. Somewhere there is method behind this madness but i am yet to find it.


To get to Hampi you have to get the train to Hospet then a taxi/rickshaw to the city itself. As we drew up to the station we could see rickshaw drivers, beggars and all other forms of tourist loving lamprey type creatures preparing their ambush. As the train stops it literally is a case of deep breath, tighten the straps, zip the pockets and once more in to the breech! After some ignoring of limbless miscreants and batting off a few street urchins we achieved some fast bartering and secured ourselves a ride to Hampi.


Hampi has a distinctly chilled out atmosphere and is a great place to while away a few days tottering around the boulders and gently strolling through the bazaars. Sally was having none of this and we decided to crack the place in a day and get back down to sea level!


The city itself is the deserted ancient capital of a once all powerful Hindu Empire that stretched from modern day Mumbai to the shores of Tamil Nadu. The current inhabitants number only a few 1000 and live among the ruins living off agriculture and tourism. The city is situated in a slight depression next to a huge river leaving it protected on all sides by either mountains or water. The landscape is littered with thousands of huge granite boulders that seem placed in impossible gravity defying positions and it is these huge stones that the stone masons used to construct the myriad temples and structures that make up the city. 


We hired a little 80cc for the day and pottered around getting terribly sunburnt, enjoying the lack of people and taking in the hugely impressive temples and palaces. On the way back after a few hours negotiating, Sally was allowed control of the scooter, Carl Foggerty she was not and my palms still sweat now thinking about the buses, people and cows that we very nearly got extremely intimate with.....new tour rule - Women shall not be allowed in control of any 2 wheelers.


Day 40-42 Back to Goa


Early rise for the 6.30 train back to Goa. As alluded to earlier even though there were no tickets 'available' we managed to get a seat, Indian train conductors would make great MPs. The train we got was 30 mins late but that is impressive considering the starting station was Calcutta around 2000 km's away (that info was especially for Meds if he reads this - he loves trains).


By 2 we were back in Goa and jumped in a cab to the city of Pangi. (note: you cannot spell any city in India incorrectly as there are about 50 spellings and names for each place and most people just spell it how it sounds). A lovely little city next with a European feel (for a Indian city it is immaculate and only smells slightly worse than Paris!). This was the Portuguese capital in India until 1961 when the Indian Army demanded it back.


Today (Sunday) we took a bus out to Old Goa which was the capital until the 1850's when it was moved down the river (to Pangim) because everyone was being killed off by Malaria and Cholera (it seems that God wasn't willing to help them out even though they built more churches, Basilicas and Cathedrals than you can throw a rosary bead at). The place is now a world heritage site and goes down very well with Indian tourists who travel from neighbouring states for a bit of culture cheap Goan beer.


Tomorrow we are off to Arambol n Northern Goa to get a couple of days in a beach hut before hitting Bombay.

The Royal Enfield Bullet plus passengers

Day 29 - 37

Have been extremely lazy so must give a very quick run down of the last few days.

D 29 - 30 Kannur beach house Thottada beach
An idyllic couple of days relaxing in a beautiful lite beach house owned by Nasir and Rosy. Great little find, literally us and a dog on the beach next to a fresh water lagoon. Would have liked to stay a bit longer but had to crack on.

D 31 - 32 Udapi/Malpe
5 hour train to Udapi. This is a town famous for it's temples and thalis. A place of worship for the thousands of Hindu pilgrims who come to see the Shri Krishna shrine/ idol.
We actually stayed in a place called Malpe, again on the beach but unlike Kannur neither idylic or beautiful. The place reminded me of a Butlins camp we stayed in on an under 11's mini rugby tour fir llantwit major rfc. To add to the amusement the hotel was called Paradise Isle!

D 33 - 37 Palolem, Goa
Afternoon Train to Canacona station with a fair few cockroaches for travel buddies. Palolem is in the south of Goa and is at present pretty undeveloped. Still a few left overs from the 60's who came here to find themselves then got lost but in the whole it's a great place to spend a couple of days. Loads of beach huts to choose from for 3 quid a night but Sally preferred something made of bricks so we found ourselves in the capable hands of Goran and Janet. Lovely couple but a few too many synapses fried from a bit of over consumption!

Zero sun for 2 days as we got the backlash from a cyclone in the bay of Bengal. Sun finally appeared on the wed and I took the opportunity to hire a Royal Enfield. great time chugging around on this mobile antique but it def needed a bit of gentle handling to get it started and stay started! On more than one occasion local expertise was required to save us a long walk!


Off to the ancient city of Hampi tomorrow for a couple of days then back down to try Northern Goa.

The joy of hanging out if a train

Munnar tea plantations

David Falconer's ice cream stand Agra

Days 29 - 31 Kannur - Malpe

Railway crossing from the train

Busy Kannur Beach, Northern Kerala

Local Chap Coconut Harvesting

Bonus drink

Local Hand looms Kannur

I had a skirt on

Our last night in Kannur Beach Hut

Strange Sunset,  Malpe Beach, Karnataka

Lunch time at Krishna temple, Udupi

Cow pushing in